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Here I am. A human being on the planet Earth in the year 2,018 as far as recorded history is concerned. I live in the self-proclaimed greatest nation on the planet during what people have stated is the greatest time to exist. I am about to share what seems to be an unpopular opinion while I still have the freedom to do so.

As I have been on this rock in space for over 3 decades, I have witnessed a significant amount of social change, although the significance of some of these changes is negligible. I won't point out any specific group, because it isn't my intention to start a huge flame war. Normally I am a very insensitive person, however the point of this topic is to highlight the merits and importance of insensitivity and how it is a necessary evil if mankind is to continue to flourish.

Civil, economic, and social unrest are all the results of one group being overly insensitive towards another. That unrest leads to outrage, which then eventually leads to cultural change. The majority of cultural change is good, and humanity as a whole benefits. However, not all cultural change is good.

I have never subscribed to the notion of being "politically correct" because first and foremost it hampers my right to freedom of expression, but also because it is an unnecessary byproduct of oversensitivity. Sheltering people from negativity creates weakness.

Overcoming the adversity of uncomfortable situations is what helps humanity advance. If any notable humans of influence who have come before us hid in a "safe space" during times of great distress, chances are I wouldn't be writing this, you wouldn't be reading it, and recorded history would not exist because that one person did not have the courage to follow a dream that others mocked.

Ok, I actually have a serious question, because I literally do not understand the "f#*! Political Correctness!!!" crowd:

What genuinely good reason is there to be rude to people, with maybe the exception of if what they're doing or saying is directly harming someone? I've never understood what benefit there is to not just... Respecting other people?...

If you don't understand the "fuck political correctness" crowd I guess you have not seen the insanity that a notable amount/faction of the political correctness is my way crowd seems to be putting forth into the world, and in some cases it is a fundamental philosophical difference that also comes into play but more on that later.

Might as well start with a video

Handily that showcases and debunks the "dominant cultural group" notion that seems to be put forth at times, quite seriously, by some said political correctness is my way circles. Institutional aspects are important to consider but by no means, none at all, obviate the individual aspects. It is by far not the only term I have seen arise from such circles, another I particularly dislike is "cultural appropriation" wherein the "dominant cultural group" thing comes back but this time to influence what can and can't be eaten/cooked, worn, enjoyed, performed... by others which is utter madness from where I sit. It is having real world effects as well https://www.snopes.com/news/2017/05/26/cultural-appropriation-portland-burrito-shop/

Rudeness I will equivocate to offensiveness for this, mainly as it is the term I see used by both people and some laws/codes of conduct at times and linguistically I am going to say it holds. a) you don't really have the right to not be offended and b) as the person being offended has to take offence (it being an active process after all) you have no idea what is and isn't offensive, especially not beforehand. You can try but you soon end up in a "nobody says anything to anybody lest it be offensive" regime.

"if what they're saying is directly harming someone"
That is a tricky one that is. Beyond the fire in a crowded theatre example, and some stuff with privacy, you have to almost qualify each and every instance wherein harm is happening. This leads to an unworkable concept, to say nothing of the "it is just words" argument.

Respecting other people. What even is that? Definitions seem to vary so widely. I have had people tell me, seemingly sincerely believing in the process, I am disrespectful before for debunking their religion and I am certainly not about to stop that.

On the fundamental philosophical differences. Many of the is my way crowd would seem to want to collectivise people where many that find the former unworkable would go in more for individualism. I think a favourite description would be "go on tumblr or something and see the list of traits that are commonly put there, seemingly to create the illusion of a personality".
This is also before we get into the equality and diversity stuff, something I usually see phrased as equality of opportunity vs equality of outcome -- deny someone employment because they are [skin colour]/[gender]/[fond of touching matching genitals]/... and you are being a bastard and deserve to get slapped by some kind of law, having to twist your hiring and firing policies to see your business represent society is fairly perverse from where I sit. It goes fairly high as well -- I was watching the facebook talking to the high level politicos thing the other week -- each were given 5 minutes in which to ask their important questions and one of them spent most of his 5 minutes trying to get the facebook guy to commit to hiring a black skinned member of the board which seems so very odd.

A lot of all this is fairly recent, or at least it rose to prominence recently (I don't care if it was in some obscure sociology textbook in the 70s) -- more than just within my lifetime but within the last decade or so. A measure of much of this can certainly grease the wheels of social interaction but the present extent and "logical conclusions" I find unworkable. Whether you next want to make an argument that much of the above is a perversion of the intent of political correctness (entirely possible) or something similar I do not know but as a shorthand it works.

Fuck that wall if text. Here's my philosophy. Absolute evil is control and absolute good is freedom. Sometimes people seek to control others, this includes the PC culture. I consider them an evil. I'm just a human being as op puts it. I react to external stimuli. If people act like assholes, be it the crowd that tries to be overly offensive or the crowd that is overly PC, I treat them like assholes. If people are chill, then there's no problem. The world would be a much greater place if people just stopped worrying what others are doing. If you get offended, that's your problem. That's life. That's the world we live in that you were obviously not prepared for.

@TotalInsanity4 it feels good to you. You forget that other people are different, they have different experiences. Personally being nice to people does make me feel good. But so does proving a point to some overly sensitive douchbag that tries to push their crazy world views on me.

But political correctness and safe spaces is beyond a simple wanting to be treated nice. It’s trying to have complete control and shut down a persons argument because you don’t like it, or you are trying to force political beliefs without it being challenged. Even arguments that are not meant to be racist or offensive are shut down.

Sometimes things that are said hurt. Sometimes there is no nicer way to say things.

There are no psychologists in the world that creates safe spaces for people to hide in, and to shield a person from things that they are afraid of. What they do is exposer therapy. Expose the person to the thing that they are afraid of so that they can build resilience. Like unnatural fear of spiders or closed tight spaces. You are not going to build resilience if you hide in safe spaces all day.

But I do appreciate a place where standard bars are built from people who realize that "development" starts by ourselves, thus enabling a place to realize what would be acceptable and what not, and I agree with some of them so that's why I am here (in GBATemp).

But people just seem to be scared of being exploited. Well, those need grow (the fuck) up.

"But people just seem to be scared of being exploited"
I am scared of being exploited.
As such I am quite content for restrictions to be placed on various aspects of business, commerce, interaction and such.
If you meant scared of being offended then all I would have to say is +1.

"Fuck that wall of text."
If that was for me then my aim was more to show how all encompassing some of this stuff is. Any one instance can be explained away but a more thorough look into it and a multitude of examples gets harder to handwave.
I dare say we set out to convey if not the same then almost the same notions, just different ways of attempting to do it.

The general argument for the American ecosystem tends to revolve around "Trump" which is quite honestly the biggest load of bullshit I've seen. It's because of the PC parties that he even got elected. Someone who actually speaks what he thinks and isn't hiding behind a mask.

There's nothing wrong with sensitivity but they're advocating for sunshine and roses. Which to me is stupid. Reality is tough. We've got generations of hostility and violence behind us. Choosing NOW to change this is insulting.

@Coto hell, I am, I've been in a handful of abusive relationships in the past. It's definitely nothing to be ashamed of. I definitely don't want anyone to treat me with kid gloves, and obviously I don't think anyone wants that because it's patronizing. But both my friends and love interests know there are things that they can't do, say, or expect of around me, and that's ok, for the most part people are respectful if I ask them nicely to stop doing something. The few true dicks that I've met, though, are the ones who make rape jokes (for instance) and then proceed to laugh and say stuff about how overly sensitive and unmasculine I must be when I ask them to stop

"Have we progressed? the overall climate appears to just be more and more hostile"
By most measures then yes. It is one of the safest, healthiest, easiest and so forth times in history. People are generally free to be what they want to be.

There are still things to sort but for the most part it is done, mostly minor stuff and proper codification that can be done almost at the leisure of the systems in place rather than trying to patch a framework built from reactionary moves. What reactionary moves there are today almost risk making things worse at times.

@TotalInsanity4 have we progressed? In the past millennia? Dude, we have the internet, been to the moon, probes on mars, healthcare unheard as early as the 1800s. The technology for all these things were created in response to war. Some of those wars were based on race, religion, all the things PC's want us to be sensitive about.